Wife
by Nicoley117-TheBlueMartini
Summary: As Reid and Lou and the rest of the group make their way to Coco's coven, Lou needs some reassurance from Reid that she's his wife. (basically a short fluffy scene between the two of them)


It was his turn to keep watch that night as their group paused their long trek through the forest to Coco's coven for some rest.

He may have been exhausted and fighting to keep his eyelids open, but for _her_, it was all worth it.

Everything was worth it to protect her, to touch her, to have her here just like this - with her head upon his lap as she slept - and to keep her as his wife.

Reid gently ran his fingers through her hair as she slept soundly, careful not to wake her. Doing so brought back memories of several weeks prior, when she taught him how to braid her hair. He couldn't help but smile.

The journey of their relationship had been an insane one, to say the least. One might have thought it would be impossible for a witch hunter to fall in love with a witch, yet here they were.

He couldn't comprehend how a brazen, strong, silly, wonderful woman could love a ridiculously conscientious stick-in-the-mud like him.

At some point during his reverie, his fingers had stopped stroking Lou's hair. He didn't realize it until he heard Lou begin to whimper.

"But I am your wife," she pleaded in her sleep. "I _am_."

Reid's eyes widened in alarm as he heard her mumblings. He brought his hand to her shoulder to gently shake her in hopes of taking her away from whatever awful dream she was having. The second his hand touched her, her eyes shot open to find him staring down at her.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached her hand up to touch his stubbled cheek. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.

"What were you dreaming about?" he whispered as he resumed running his fingers through her hair.

"Nothing worth talking about," she remarked calmly.

Reid frowned. "It didn't seem like a pleasant dream. I just heard you say _'But I am your wife _' in your sleep."

"It's nothing," she insisted.

"_Lou_," he said sternly. "I want you to be honest with me. I thought we'd agreed there'd be no more secrets between us."

Lou sighed. "Why do you have to have such an adorable face that's impossible to resist, especially when you're brooding like that?"

Reid made no reply. Instead, he waited for her to answer him.

She sighed again. "I was...dreaming of the moment you found out I was a witch and you said, '_You are not my wife._'"

Reid let out a slow breath. "Why would such a moment be appearing in your dreams right now? Is it still bothering you?"

"Well, the weeks we were apart, those words haunted and gutted me," she answered truthfully. "I guess it still haunts me."

Her words were like a pierce in his hide. But surely, she knew just how much she meant to him? A week ago, he had murdered his father-figure for her. And yet...the slightest of doubts of how he felt about her remained in her mind.

He placed one of his hands upon her cheek, while the other grabbed hold of her hand.

"Lou, I am so sorry that I -"

"I know," she cut him off. "I know. I forgive you. You don't need to apologize anymore for it."

"But you're still having nightmares about it. It must still be bothering you in some way," he remarked. "I want you to be free of such nightmares."

Lou sat up with a mischievous glint in her eyes and started tracing his jawline with her finger. "Well, one way to avoid such nightmares is to not sleep at all. And I can think of some pretty exciting activities we can do instead of sleeping…"

"Lou…" he breathed. They needed to figure this out. Not distract themselves with other...things.

Not yet at least.

She pouted for a moment, but her grin quickly returned. "I just need to hear you call me your wife again. And again. Maybe several times per day. For forever."

He placed his hand against her cheek and gazed into her eyes. "My wonderful, wild, beautiful wife," he began quietly.

Lou took a deep breath as she beamed at him.

"I only speak profanities if it's concerning something I truly feel strongly about," he continued. "I hope you've realized that I've only started swearing when it comes to situations regarding your welfare, your protection, and anything about you."

Lou nodded along in understanding.

"So, please believe me when I say that you are the fucking_ love of my life_ and I can't imagine a day without you as my wife," he finished.

Her smile brightened as she let out a soft chuckle. "Hearing you cuss is so...sexy," she murmured.

Reid bent down to peck her on the lips.

"Call me your wife again. And use another cuss word," she requested with enthusiastic anticipation when he pulled away.

"_My sweet wife_," he said as he pressed his forehead down against hers. "I hope I can make up for being a shitty husband when I first learned you were a witch."

"I have a few ideas," she suggested with a playful wiggle of her brow. "One of which is you must always refer to me as_ 'my sweet wife' _whenever you are ridiculously happy."

Well, that wouldn't be difficult. Whenever he's with her, he'd always feel that way.

"Any other requests, _my sweet wife_?"

She tilted her head as if she were deep in thought. "If you're ever angry with me - even the slightest bit - you should refer to me as '_ the fucking love of my life. _' It'll likely lessen the desire to strangle you in such moments. If you feel overwhelmed with such passion for me that you just wish you could whisk me away to somewhere private to have your way with me, you should call me '_Madame Diggory_.'"

Reid smiled out of amusement over her babbling. "Am I ever to call you Lou?"

She pursed her lips as she considered his question. "'_My one and only dearest Lou_' should be reserved for love letters only."

"Are you telling me you want me to write you love letters?"

"What girl doesn't want to receive a love letter?!" she exclaimed.

Reid laughed, thinking back to the way she made fun of the letters he had written to Celie. "I will remember that."

Suddenly, Lou's face became quite serious, causing him to feel concerned. She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Tell me something," she whispered.

"Anything."

Her breathing stilled out of nervousness. "Do you love me more than Celie?"

Reid took a slow breath. "I've known Celie for a long time and loved her for a long while. I've spent countless nights dreaming about marrying her and spending the rest of my life with her."

Lou's face fell as she looked down, nodding in understanding.

Reid was quick to put his hand beneath her chin to lift her head back up to look at him. "When she told me couldn't be with me anymore, I was crushed and heartbroken. But I moved on. I let the Archbishop marry us, knowing that meant I would never be with Celie. With you…" he trailed off as he took a moment to stare at her, trying to memorize the features of her face, like the placement of every freckle, the plumpness of her lips…

"When I ordered you to leave me, I felt like a piece of me was gone, while the rest of me was completely shattered," he went on. "In the weeks we were apart and I traveled to the chateau, I spent every second of everyday thinking about you - how I hurt you, how I failed you, how I couldn't stand the thought of living without you, how I _needed _you. It was like my air to breathe was gone. I struck down the Archbishop without a second thought in an attempt to save you. _My sweet wife_, I've never loved anyone the way I've loved you."

A few tears streamed down Lou's beaming face, which Reid was quick to wipe away with his thumbs. She bent forward, resting her head in the crook of his neck as he wrapped his arms around her. "I love you so much, Reid," she murmured.

"I love you, _my sweet wife_," he reiterated.

Lou let out a soft squeal. "Oh Reid, every time you call me your wife makes me want to rip your clothes off and make sweet love to you," she blurted out before kissing his throat and tugging at the collar of his shirt.

"Not here, not now, _Madame Diggory_," he gently reprimanded her as he hugged her with one hand, while the other halted her attempt to yank off his shirt. "We're not animals. You deserve better than the forest."

She frowned. He hated disappointing her, but they had to be _reasonable _and have some sense of propriety.

"But I have you and that's all that I need," she said before planting a trail of kisses along his jawline. "You're all I want."

"_Fucking love of my life," _he moaned, trying to fight off how much he relished in the touch of her lips against his skin. "The others are a short distance away, and I have to keep watch."

Lou pulled back and sighed. "Fine. Be a killjoy."

"I'll make it up to you soon," he stated before he caught her lips in a firm, passionate kiss.

"You better."

With a smirk on her face, she laid back against his chest, this time closing her eyes and looking perfectly content as she wrapped her arms around his torso.

Reid held her tightly against his body and rubbed her back. "I promise I will,_ my sweet wife_."

* * *

**A/N: **

So I just read Serpent & Dove the other week and now feel OBSESSED. I had to write a little something for Reid and Lou, and this came out. I hope you liked it. The part about using different names while feeling different emotions is a bit inspired by the ending to the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice. Seems fitting!

Fun random fact: Personality-wise, I'm totally more like Reid! (Like I even felt awkward typing out cuss words while writing this because I seldom swear myself lol). So writing for Lou was a bit more challenging for me - I hope she came out alright!


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